Nanki Shirahama南紀白浜

Large leisure spot facing the Pacific Ocean. "Senjo-jiki," huge multi-tiered rock that looks like a thousand "tatami" mats.

Nanki, a generic name for the entire southwestern part of Wakayama, is a large spot of leisure containing various amusement facilities, beaches and places where you can enjoy marine sports, golfing and tennis. Shirahama-cho, a center town of Nanki, is a typical hot-spring resort facing the Pacific Ocean in the Kii-hanto Peninsula and is known as one of Japan's three largest spas together with Beppu in Oita and Atami in Shizuoka.

Collectively called the Shirahama-onsen Hot Springs comprises the Yuzaki-onsen Hot Spring, long known for open-air bathing in manually hollowed rock tubs and other hot springs at Shirahama opened early in the 20th century, Higashi-Shirahama, Tsunashirazu and others.

In and around Shirahama are many places of natural beauty visited by a large number of tourists throughout the year, such as Engetsu-jima Island, an uninhabited rock isle with a round sea cave open in the middle of it, and Sandan-beki (three-tiered wall) with 50 to 60-meter-high precipitous rock walls extending about 2 kilometers from south to north. Another must-see is Senjo-jiki, a huge multi-tiered rock that looks like a thousand "tatami" matted (senjo-jiki) floor created by the erosion of soft sandstone by raging waves.